starcraftfandomcom-20200213-history
United Earth Directorate
The United Earth Directorate or UED is the name of the global government ruling Earth and its Solar System. Born from changes that occurred after the existence of the alien races of Protoss and Zerg was revealed, the United Earth Directorate took over the previous global government, United Powers League (UPL). The United Powers League Following the decline of Western civilization and seemingly imminent break down in society in the twenty-third century, a new world government took power in Earth: the United Powers League (UPL). A police-state, it encompasses all but a few volatile South American countries. Rounding up dissidents, hackers, synthetics, the cybernetically enhanced, tech-pirates, and criminals of every kind; they were determined to ensure mankind's purity and survival as species in the wake of ever increasing cybernetic enchantments and mutations altering human gene pool; "Project Purification" was instituted: a campaign of mass genocide in which over 400 million people were eradicated. The Exile and Long Sleep Despite atrocious acts of the UPL, it successfully developed new advanced forms of technology, reopening many fields of science that had been largely ignored for centuries under the jurisdiction. The UPL developed warp drive and cryonic technologies, opening the frontiers of space; within forty years the UPL had founded colonies on moons and planets in the Solar System. However, a young scientist named Doran Routhe wanted to explore deep space; he created a secret project intended to colonize distant planets using four cold-sleep ships. Thanks to his connections within UPL and some good luck, Routhe managed to get thousands of people captured by UPL as specimens for his project. Forty thousand prisoners were loaded into four sleeper-ships, called the Nagglfar, Argo, Reagan and Sarengo and loaded for a one year journey into deep space to the outlying planet, Gantris VI. The lead ship, the Nagglfar, was also equipped with an artificial intelligence called ATLAS, a revolutionary artificial intelligence. ATLAS scanned the prisoners during the journey, and discovered something unusual about them - a proportion of them had were going trough mutation while in statis. Although this proportion equaled less than one percent of the total number of prisoners, it was a prove of latent psychic abilities that humans possessed. While currently weak, it would manifest in only a few generations. This information was logged and sent back to Earth. This may explain how the United Powers League came to know of this experiment. The project went awry, however, eventually stranding the prisoners in the distant Koprulu Sector. The guidance system connected with ATLAS failed for unknown reasons, and all data regarding Gantris VII's and Earth's location were lost. The ships traveled at faster-than-light speeds in hyperspace for nearly thirty years without destination. This event would become known as the Long Sleep. Eventually the warp engines of the ship achieved their criticail levels, and after travelling 60,000 light years and 28 years in hyperspace the ships returned to normal space. Soon the ships engines failed and their life support systems were nearing end too. Working with their emergency programs, the ships began to descent on nearest planets which could support human life. One of the spaceships (the Sarengo) crashed on Umoja killing all aboard, but another, the Reagan, successfully landed on Umoja. The Argo landed on Moria, and the Nagglfar landed on Tarsonis. The Terrans, as they would be known, had no idea where Earth was as all information regarding its location had been lost when ATLAS' guidance system failed. With the databanks of their ship's computer's lacking information needed to build spacecraft or communication devices powerful enough to reach other planets, the Terrans of Umoja and Moria lived decades in total information blackout, not being aware of the existence of their neighbouring colonies. Despite this, the Tarsonians who had direct acces to ATLAS which was carried on their ship, were able to make good use of the computer's vast databanks, and after sixty years built spaceships, gaining the ability to explore nearby planets and discover their neighbours. Being now aware of each other and having access to advanced technology, the Terrans were able to benefit from each other, but peace would not last long. Eventually, the Terrans of Tarsonis created the Terran Confederacy, which led to a long war with the Kel-Morian Combine of Moria. After this, the Confederacy was further troubled by rebel factions, born from the Confederacy's oppressive rule of its people. Nonetheless, the Confederacy was able to stand relatively firm as the most powerful Terran faction in the twenty-fifth century, despite continuing battles with rebel factions, most notably the Sons of Korhal. However, a war which broke out with the Zerg invasion and subsequent clashes with the Protoss changed this. Unknown to Terrans however was the fact that the UPL (consisting of Earth and its sister worlds founded in the Solar System) had become aware of Doran Routhe's experiment soon after its failure, and was able to observe the Terran breakaway colonies trough deep space probes. United Earth Directorate The United Powers League carefully watched the Terran colonies, but was generally uninterested in interfering with their affairs. While there were no aliens in the home sector of Earth, there were two alien races in the Koprulu Sector. Neither were native to this area but came from the unknown regions of space. The conflicting Terran groups in this area would make first contact with these races; the Protoss and Zerg. The UPL had never encountered any alien races before, and when the existence of these aliens was revealed it caused widespread panic. While what was going on between Terrans of the Koprulu Sector was an issue United Powers League showed little interest in, the UPL could not afford possibility of an alien invasion of Earth. This occasion brought many nations that had stayed out of UPL's domain into it, expanding its power. As a result of these changes United Powers League was reformed and named as the United Earth Directorate. Taking Action Adopting a more proactive, militaristic policy in regards of alien affairs, the UED used considerable resources in studying the Protoss and Zerg. The UED, after having conducted research on the two races for months, believing that they were capable of countering the aliens decided to end the conflict in Koprulu Sector by any means necessary. Thus the UED launched what they called the "Galactic War for Domination". An expeditionary force led by brilliant and talented military leader, Admiral Gerard DuGalle, was assembled. Admiral DuGalle was given three main objectives when he would arrive in Koprulu Sector: # Conquer all of the "rogue" Terran colonies, and capture Arcturus Mengsk, the Emperor of the newly formed Terran Dominion. # Take control of the entire Zerg Swarm by capturing the newborn Zerg Overmind with psychics and powerful drugs. # Use the captured Zerg Swarm to pacify all Protoss activity within the sector. The UED justified this act as a mean of assuring the survival and prosperity of humanity troughout the galaxy. Koprulu Sector Journey The journey to the Koprulu Sector was a long and tedious one. The only way a military force could travel far in space was through suspended animation which the Expeditionary Force did. The forces arrived in the Koprulu Sector without incident, and immediately on arrival began to take over the nearby world of Braxis. Koprulu Campaign The UED started their invasion by setting Zerg on a Terran-occupied planet and watching the resulting massacre. Braxis was the first of many victories for the Directorate forces in the Koprulu Sector, where Vice Admiral Stukov and Admiral DuGalle would meet the mysterious commando Samir Duran. The Expeditionary Fleet would travel to conquer Korhal (throne world of the Terran Dominion), successfully activate the Psi Disrupter (which severely weakened Zerg forces), and capture the second Zerg Overmind on Char. Infested Kerrigan rallied various Protoss and Terran forces, such as Raynor's Raiders, to help fight the powerful Directorate Fleet. They were able to destroy the Psi Disrupter and the Zerg slowly came back to power. Infested Kerrigan, with the help of the Dark Templar, made a final blow by killing the Overmind. With both the Psi Disrupter and Overmind gone, Kerrigan became the Queen of Blades and leader of the Zerg. Kerrigan's former Protoss and Terran allies quickly became her enemies. The Protoss had to retreat from their homeworld of Aiur to the Dark Templar world of Shakuras. The Terran Dominion forces were left alone, but the UED forces were chased down and destroyed. Directorate Continues The United Earth Directorate suffered a great loss with the defeat of the Expeditionary Fleet, but it still exists on Earth and is the only other power that has sufficient force to resist Kerrigan's Zerg, aided by the great distance between UED Earth space and the Koprulu Sector. However, nearly the entire force within the Koprulu Sector was destroyed, so the UED must replenish forces from Earth if it wishes to attack the Koprulu Sector again. It is unknown how much of its strength the Earth put into the military expedition to the Koprulu sector; the size of the UED Fleet commanded by DuGalle has been the source of much debate. Andy Chambers described the size of the force as "little".2007-08-11. The Story Behind the Legacy. StarCraft Legacy. Accessed 2007-08-11. The United Earth Directorate almost certainly has maintained some defense at home. The UED Expeditionary Force remnant may also have built a secret base at Abaddon2006-01-13. Wallpaper. Blizzard Entertainment. Accessed 2006-02-09. in or near the Koprulu Sector, and have been confirmed to exist in StarCraft II.Andrew Park (2007-05-20). Blizzard talks StarCraft II art design. Gamespot. There are no plans to use the UED for StarCraft II, except perhaps for small factions stranded in the Koprulu Sector. Territories In addition to Earth, the UED controls (or at least controlled at some point) the Centauri colonies and Tau Ceti.2007-10-08. SC:L Metzen Interview - Lore Exclusive. StarCraft Legacy. Accessed 2007-10-08. Technology Technology and weapons of war the UED expeditionary force employed are nearly identical to those used by Terrans. A possible explanation for this is that since the Terrans used the databanks of the ATLAS to develop their technology (which data was based on that existing on Earth), the UPL would naturally have technology that was very similar, although it is likely that they have more advanced technology too. (Chris Metzen, StarCraft's leading storyline writer theorised that this is because the expeditionary force employed much captured technology from sources such as the Dylarian Shipyards). Some areas where UED technology differed from that of the Koprulu Sector Terrans include sidearms, rifles and flamethrowers used by UED infantry forces.Blizzard Trivia. Gissar's Scratch Pad. Accessed 2007-10-27. Military Wings Battle Order The UED Expedionary Fleet itself was organized into two distinct wings: * Atlas Wing - ground forces, main color brown * Cronus Wing - space forces, main color white The Cronus Wing was by far the largest force; usually the UED forces opposed by the player focused on aerial combat rather than ground combat (which was favored by the Terran Dominion). There were also several specialized organizations within the whole Fleet: * UED Blockade * UED Strike Team * UED Commando Force * UED Science Corps * UED Defense Garrison * Stukov's Elite Guard The UED Blockade was formed to blockade newly conquered worlds or help prevent outside interference and escapes with ongoing planetary battles. The UED Strike Team and UED Commando Force were elite ground forces that played a role in some of the Directorate missions during the campaign. The Science Corps controlled the second Overmind. The Defense Garrison defended Braxis. Vice Admiral Stukov himself had an Elite Guard, which used blue as its color. Stukov would actually defy the Directorate orders, although he did so in the Directorate's best interests. But disinformation by Samir Duran, a former member of Alpha Squadron, would lead to the death of Stukov. Armored Corps The Armored Corps, founded in 2380, is a specialized branch of the UED forces. It houses the 1st Powered Infantry. The Motto of all UED Powered Infantry troops is "Valor Beyond Death". Known Members *Admiral DuGalle (see main article) *Vice Admiral Stukov (see main article) *Commandant Miloshek: Devised the 'Multiplication' deep space combat simulation excercise in order to train UED commanders to think on their feet. *Major Kilbourne: Aided Miloshek in devising the simulation. *Unnamed Captain: The player character in Episode V. *Lieutenant Thomas Dufay: Ordered to take a company into the city of Graschek and destroy an enemy logistics base. Given the city's labyrinth-like nature, they lost their bearings en route and lost half of their men. Dufay resolved that, after his tour of duty was over, he'd find the city's planners and kill them all with his bare hands. 2 *Lieutenant Samir Duran (albeit temporarily) *Marine 384DTA47631: Experienced post-traumatic stress disorder after serving on Char.3 Trivia The United Earth Directorate appears to be loosely based on the United Citizen Federation of the movie Starship Troopers. Similiarities can be seen at the end of Episode V, during the UED Victory movie. References *Underwood, Peter, Bill Roper, Chris Metzen and Jeffrey Vaughn. StarCraft (Manual). Irvine, Calif.: Blizzard Entertainment, 1998. *Underwood, Peter, Chris Metzen and Bill Roper. StarCraft: Brood War (Manual). Irvine, Calif.: Blizzard Entertainment, 1998. Category:Organizations Category:Terrans